Scottish Forestry contact with the tobacco industry: FOI release

Information requested

A list of any and all contact your organisation and/or staff have had with British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris International, as well as any other domestic or transnational tobacco companies or anyone representing the tobacco industry including subsidiaries of tobacco industry.

I would like this information for the period from 23 April 2023- 10 March 2025.

Contact would primarily include attending or arranging meetings or functions, and responding to correspondence or phone calls.

Please break down the information by:

• Tobacco company or representative’s name
• Date of contact(s)
• Type of contact (meeting, email, letter, phone call, text/app message or video call, e-card or any other form of electronic communication)
• Place of contact, if relevant
• Purpose of contact
• Outcome of contact, including if no action taken

Response

We do not collect, hold or collate any data on applicants to the Forestry Grant Scheme relating to their involvement in the Tobacco industry. We, therefore, cannot search for applications to the Forestry Grant Scheme from the Tobacco industry.

However, we have searched our correspondence and financial records and case management systems for the period given 23 April 2023 - 10 March 2025 and they contain no record of contact with the terms:

British American Tobacco
Imperial Brands
Japan Tobacco International
Philip Morris International

Without a specific list of “other domestic or transnational tobacco companies or anyone representing the tobacco industry including subsidiaries of tobacco industry” we cannot search further within the Forestry Grant Scheme to confirm with absolute certainty that we have had no contact with such companies or individuals.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.